KICKSTART THIS

Kickstart This: Horror/Heist Project 'Zombie Bank' by Mike De Caro

by Ben Pearson
October 19, 2012

Welcome back to another edition of Kickstart This, FirstShowing's weekly column dedicated to spreading the word about indie projects around the world that need your help to become a reality. With Halloween quickly approaching, it's fitting that this week we're featuring a zombie-related project. It's called Zombie Bank, and wrapped in the guise of a horror heist film, it's a metaphor about America's current economic state. Their campaign expires on Halloween, so check out the video below, support the filmmakers if you can, and then come back and leave us a comment letting us know what you think. Support this project!

With "The Walking Dead" recently breaking cable records with its Season 3 premiere, it's a no-brainer (hah) to say that zombie stories are as popular right now as they ever were. That's a good thing for director Mike De Caro, who is trying to get his short film Zombie Bank off the ground. The story is set in the financial district of New York City and follows a man named Joseph, who finds a vaccine to a zombie outbreak inside a local bank. Thinking the world is about to return to normal, Joseph enlists the help of a banker to steal money hidden deep within the vaults, but it's here that things fall apart and Joseph realizes his ambition might have sealed his fate.

When George Romero set Dawn of the Dead in a shopping mall, it was clear he was making a statement about the state of American consumerism with mindless hordes of zombies standing in for the gluttony of our country's materialism. De Caro hopes to do something similar, inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement and zombie protest walks that took place across the nation. (Who says The Dark Knight Rises is the only movie that can use Occupy Wall Street as a metaphor?) And with the fantastic location of an empty bank, complete with real vaults, the project boasts a great setting that will surely result in some very cinematic setpieces. Check out the pitch video below:

For more on Zombie Bank, or to help fund the project, visit its Kickstarter page. Mike De Caro and his team are hoping to score $10,000 by Wednesday, October 31st, and funding this short seems like a great way to help pass on the Halloween spirit. Try to help support them if you can, but if you're all out of cash, maybe you could help them out by spreading the word on Facebook, Twitter, printing out pages with their website listed and taping them to your friends' backs when they're not looking… you know, the usual.

That's all for this week's edition of Kickstart This. Almost all of the feedback we've been getting recently has made it into this column, so please continue to send in projects you think are worthwhile and might need a boost. Leave us a comment, or to reach me directly, shoot me an e-mail at: BenPears85@gmail.com. My personal inbox is always open, and if it's a Kickstarter or IndieGoGo film project, I'll take a look at it at the very least. As always, I want to thank you guys for supporting these indie projects, because they definitely couldn't exist without without the help of film lovers just like you. For our complete Kickstart This archive of past projects, visit here. What do you think?

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